Monday, July 20, 2009

Los Vampiros del Mar!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the roof...

We've been talking about it all summer, and it's finally here: Piranha II: The Spawning, aka P2:tS, aka (as the Spanish preferred to call it) Piraña 2: Los Vampiros Del Mar.

This one comes to us from the director who brought us The Terminator, Aliens, and who has promised to revolutionize the cinema as we know it with his upcoming Avatar. That's right, the director who made the highest grossing film in history (Titanic) got his start on this low budget Italian-produced B-movie, getting promoted from special effects coordinator to the director's chair after the original director quit. Everybody's gotta start somewhere, right?

Of course, it's a pretty blatant attempt to continue to cash in on sea-based horror in the post-Jaws years, but by '81 the formula was getting pretty stale. Unable to top even the worst of the other copycats, or its predecessor, the surprisingly excellent John Sayles-scripted enviro-horror of the original Piranha, Cameron and the Italians followed genre convention and did what any tired horror sequel must: upped the amounts of gore, sex, and death. Oh yeah, and they gave the Piranha a genetic mutation that now allows them to fly, so you're not even safe if you can manage to get out of the water.

It's never funny when it supposed to be, but is pretty much hilarious the rest of the time. And still far better than suffering through Titanic. In fact, I think that movie might have benefitted from some carnivorous flying fish.

As usual, we'll start off with some classic animation. But before we go into the feature, we'll also take a moment for a public service message to remind everyone, as P2:tS demonstrates, that the outdoors contain many dangers. This will come in the form of perhaps the strangest 1970s educational film you've ever seen.

Bring the drinks and snacks of your choice, and if you have easy-to-transport lawn/camp chairs, feel free to bring those as well so we don't get as many dirty looks from the rest of the rooftop for monopolizing the chairs. See you there!

Monday, July 06, 2009

Le Roi est Mort

We at Dorchester Rooftop Movies have had a sad couple of weeks. We'd like to observe a moment of silence for Farrah of the feathery hair. Give a spirited HEY-O! to the dearly departed Mr. McMahon. A heartily shouted lament that Billy Mays will never be here for another indispensable product. But we're all still reeling from the shock of the fallen King of Pop. And so, we at the Rooftop Movies' Office of Programming, Pretension, and Arbitrary Decision-Making feel we would be remiss if we didn't use our unique platform to make some kind of larger tribute. As such, we must first apologize for yet another delay of the hotly anticipated screening of James Cameron's ode to toothy flying sea-dwellers (Piranha 2: The Spawning). That will, again, have to wait for another week.

Instead, this Wednesday we'll be showing Moonwalker, Jackson's 1988 companion film to the Bad album. The movie consists of a number of loosely related short films, and as such, we can't help but feel it is likely the structural basis for Robert Altman's Short Cuts, and we trust that Altman will not be stepping forward to dispute this claim. It's also a rarity, having long since gone out of print on both VHS and DVD. So when the hasty re-issue hits stores in a few weeks, you may sneer down your nose at everyone else on your block and tell them that you just attended a screening weeks ago, so no thank you very much.

In keeping with the usual tradition, the feature will be preceded by a cartoon; which in this case should hopefully be an episode of the Jackson 5ive animated series from the early 70s.

As usual, bring any beverages or snacks you'd like to enjoy, and keep an eye on the weather in case it's going to get chilly after dark.

Single white sequined glove optional.

IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING NOTE:
Prior to the Jackson 5ive cartoon, we'll be showing a short film by Susan Etheridge, currently untitled, depicting how alcohol, uneven pavement, pyromaniacal boys, and illegal fireworks that bear the name HELLRAISER, are a certain recipe for disaster and near-death experiences. It's sort of a public service message. With fire. The director and many of the actors will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A.